Murdoch's Wall Street Journal slams Irish for passing treaty

The EU and Irish government conspired to scare, mislead and threaten Irish voters to pass the Lisbon Treaty, according to an extraordinary story in the Wall Street Journal written by one of their editorial writers Anne Jolis. The newspaper is owned by anti-EU publisher Rupert Murdoch.

The Journal stated the rerunning of the referendum after it was defeated first timeout was "mocking the voting process."

"Democracy means adhering to the will of the majority of the day. Do-overs and give-backs not only mock the voting process, they convince many that going to the polls is an exercise in futility. This was the case for many, who told me they had voted against the treaty last year but hadn't bothered on Friday."

The journal also says European Union president Jose Manuel Baroso scared the living daylights out of voters a few weeks ago when he told the Irish Times that companies would leave Ireland en masse if the treaty did not pass.

"For investor confidence it is important there is certainty about the future of ireland in the EU,” Baroso said. The Journal also intimated that Baroso essentially helped bribe voters beginning last month when he gave $14.8 million to help laid off Irish workers.

The Journal also stated that the Irish “activated the herd mentality"

Solis wrote that "Alongside the economic threats, Irish voters were subjected to the even more vague minacity that Ireland would somehow be shunned by the rest of the bloc. After the Republic rejected the treaty last year, Brussels mandarins ignited the rumor that a two-tier Europe could be the solution."

The Journal says there remains some hope for those who believe Europe deserves a better treaty pointing to the Czech Republic where the president has so far refused to sign up to it even though parliament has.

"Depending on how long the court takes to issue a verdict, the move could buy time for British Conservative leader David Cameron to make good on his promise, repeated on Saturday, that if his party wins general elections next year before the treaty is ratified by all EU countries, they will hold a British referendum.”

The Journal notes that "If so, Mr. Cameron should take note of the tactics employed by Mr. Barroso & Co. As any Irish bookie would tell him, ‘democracy’ in the hands of an unelected central bureaucracy is
not a safe bet.”